Is there a precedent for Juan Williams?

hello djbtol, I think persoanlly the reporters goad these people to speak this way and sometimes when reporters ask the same question over and over the interviewee get frustrated etc.. and say things out frustration. I like Juan Williams at times but I beleive he speak from trueth and from his heart. I do not think he lead astray the public on purpose. I think he was escape goat but I feel he will turn this around for him and his family. Some other radio station will pick him up or media outlet. Thanks and have a great day! Sincerely unqiue16

This is kind of related but unrelated. NPR should not have fired Juan Williams. But this may have a really good ending. One Congressman is going to push legislation to end funding to NPR. While I have no doubt Juan will come out on top, if the end result is no more taxpayer money to the company, then maybe this will have a happy ending at least for taxpayer money. (Of course, Congress will probably send it elsewhere and tout it as a spending cut.)

Rev. Jackson said that if he were walking down the street at night and saw a group of blacks following him he would be scared more so than if the group were white. As far as the comments by his grandmother what older person wouldn't feel scared if a group of youths - Black, White, Green or Purple - were following them. My question is why is it wrong for whites to be afraid of blacks but a Black Collage Professor is justified in assaulting a refusing to comply with a white police officer? If it is alright for Blacks to be afraid of whites then why is it not all right for whites to fear Blacks in some situations?

I think Williams should not be called a bigot as he also told Bill O'Reilly..."Williams did go on to tell O'Reilly that he had to be "careful" to stress that he was not talking about all Muslims when he criticized some and that America was not at war with Islam. He also compared blaming all Muslims for the actions of extremists to blaming all Christians for the actions of Timothy McVeigh. (O'Reilly responded that he was "done" being careful.) IMO This is also the same as blaming all Jews for murdering Jesus Christ. I can understand some people being nervous on an aircraft with passengers in full Muslim garb as we have all read about the many attempts made to sabotage air crafts. IMO these attampts are the actions of Terrorists but as it is now political incorrect to mention the word "terrorist" what are we supposed to call these activists of Arabic/Eastern/Islamic hatred.

Considering what happened in 9/11 I believe that Juan Williams had a right to be nervous. It is not about being afraid of Muslims because they believe in Allah, it is being nervous about someone who is Muslim getting on the plane with you and since they are dressed in a Muslim garb, they could easily hide a weapon in it. Or the baggage man could have hidden the weapons where his companions could find them. With Obama's white grandmother hearing seeing a black person, if she had lived in a rough neighborhood where there were lots of violence committed by blacks or perhaps there was a gym nearby where blacks went into boxing, then she would be right to be nervous. It also could be if Obama's grandmother lived in the South, it might have been that the rich white people often had black men working as bodyguards for them, maybe back from slave days or having blacks trained as fighters. I have no idea of why - I am using my imagination and have not gone through all the theories. I do think that many of the prejudices and bigotries start with some actual event that was not explained properly. The trouble is that while we remember 9/11 and the terrorist attacks, we have no idea what happened to frighten Obama's white grandmother. And we assume is that she is just a bigot. So I believe that Obama intentionally forgot to mention the incidents that frightened the women and it could have been as simple as the ladies seeing a black man going home from the gym after a boxing match.

Even thinking Juan Williams is a bigot over something so personal and so innocent and so vulnerable is just insanity. I think it's obvious NPR has long wanted to ditch Williams, and the fact that this registered as controversial enough was just an excuse. We're human beings. We evolved partly by staying safe. Anything that doesn't strike us as "normal" puts us on alert. And if the image is already planted in your head, then what possible reaction do you have? Do you not think about it at all? Okay, Dexter, try not to get caught by the FBI. Do you tell yourself, "Oh, I musn't think these Muslims are those Muslims, because then I'd be wrong." (Which is essentially 'discriminating' to hear progressives tell it.) Or do you think, "Wow, okay... I really hope these guys decked out in Muslim garb aren't terrorists." What if you're a minority and a white guy with a Confederate flag shirt sits down near you? Do you think about it at all? Okay, buddy, congratulations on being the only person in America not aware of racial issues. Do you think, "Okay, his clothing makes me think he might be a racist, but maybe he's not one of those." Or do you think, "Would you F'n look at this! This a$$hole racist with his rebel flag... ugg!" "But wait," you say? "The Confederate flag has a history of racism!" The flag is only an identifier of the south at that point in history. And not everyone under that flag was a racist. For all someone knows, the person might be a Dukes of Hazzard fan, or just wearing it like some wear Che t-shirts - as fashion without any ill intent. Muslim garb is, unfortunately for good Muslims, one of the only identifiers we have. In all likelihood, any Muslim terrorist--terrorist in general--is going to be assimilated and not in traditional garb at all. But that still doesn't change the fact that our minds do not work to be instinctively "PC." We're a generalizing, discriminating bunch of animals, and the effort has to be made to accept (to the point of instinctively ignoring) what's different if you already recognize it as different. And in this instance, this is something recognized as potentially dangerous. Juan's comment was perfectly acceptable. So I hope NPR, although I say they can fire the guy if they want, is prepared to lose in both the court of law and in the court of public opinion. They'll go away in a few months behind this. Unless, of course, Soros wants to completely fund them.